


off the beaten path

by gaymiens



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: AU where Ralph joins Kara and Alice on their journey, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Gen, Jealousy, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Platonic Relationships, Polyamory, Rating May Change, of sorts- jerry is a hivemind after all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 05:07:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14888201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymiens/pseuds/gaymiens
Summary: ralph is scared, and lonely, and just wants a family.kara knows this feeling all too well.there's no way she can just leave him there.after all, sometimes you can find friends in strange places.----This fic is officially abandoned, and I will not be continuing it as I have lost interest in the DBH fandom. Sorry if you were hoping for a revival, but if you're interested in writing something along this vein, please feel free to do so.





	off the beaten path

**Author's Note:**

> i noticed the appalling lack of ralph content so i brought it upon myself to write this! the first chapter sticks quite close to the canon events of "on the run" (+ ralph's inclusion) but more canon divergence will happen along the way! hope you enjoy this wild, wild ride with this wild, wild boy.

For such an old house, Kara hadn’t expected it to be so full of sound. 

 

She’d selected it to be discreet- there was no way she was getting enough money for the motel without being caught on camera stealing cash, or even worse- recognised by the owner. The car would have been too cramped for Alice, no place suitable for such a precious little girl like her. But now Kara was starting to consider that this place might as well be the opposite of discreet, her wiring set in edge by the constant background noise of the house’s cadaver. She wasn’t built to be this nervous, suspicious and constantly afraid of capture, but such a situation called for a bit of anxiety. 

 

It wasn’t like the noise would be picked up readily by human ears, but she had a vague inkling that if the police had any sense about them they would start employing androids to catch other androids, and a brief audio scan of the street would easily pick up the little things. Ralph was scurrying around the kitchen, the scrape of his knife against the wall irritating and far too conspicuous. Alice was breathing steadily, shuddering slightly in her sleep. Her temperature was consistent, but Kara still worried. 

 

The worst thing was the creaking. It was like the house had a mind of its own, and it was swaying and rocking in time to the storm outside. It may be the least  _ suspicious  _ sound around her, but it was definitely the most grating. Everytime it shuddered or something snapped in the background, Kara’s mind would light up with images of doors busting down, gunshots, footsteps thundering down the hallway in order to capture her.

 

And now Ralph had started muttering. It was nonsensical, but still seemed to have an  _ edge  _ that Kara just couldn’t place. She shifted her stance, standing up from her position curled around Alice, and reached back for the gun she’d set down next to them.

 

She didn’t want to use it again- the flash of white light, the splatter of fresh red blood against her- the memories shot through her circuits every time she held the thing in her hand, and she couldn’t help but shudder. No, she didn’t want to have to use it- and Alice didn’t deserve to see that again either. But if Ralph kept acting so… erratic, she’d have to do whatever she could do to stop him. She couldn’t compromise Alice’s safety. 

 

Sparing a glance to Alice’s curled-up form, she sighed, tucking the gun into her back pocket. Maybe it would be best to investigate what Ralph was up to now- even though she bit her lip at the idea of abandoning Alice’s side. Calming the unstable android down would be the best way to guarantee that something more drastic didn’t happen. Despite his fits of anger, he’d seemed quite happy to help them, and she didn’t want to leave him to boil over, lest that charitable mood turn into something more hostile. 

 

The scratching had stopped by now, and upon entering the kitchen Kara could see that the knife Ralph had been using was imbedded firmly into a wall. Ralph himself was knelt over in the corner of the room, fingers digging into the floorboards, his forehead pressed against them as if he was in prayer. She still couldn’t quite make out what he was chanting, but she could smell the thirium in the room- and a quick glimpse at the ground around Ralph revealed small splatters of the blue blood. 

 

Kara stepped forwards, a rotten floorboard creaking underfoot as she did. She winced, drawing back her foot, and Ralph shot up like a bullet, quickly moving to scramble backwards and grab a plank of wood behind him. Kara moved her hand back to hover over the handle of her gun. 

 

Something like recognition flashed over Ralph’s face, and he dropped the wood with a clatter, a manic grin quickly spreading over his face. He beckoned Kara over with his now-free hand, and Kara could spot traces of blue coating his fingertips. 

 

“Company!” Ralph giggled out, standing up to his full height, “Ralph invites you! Come, come!” He wiped off his fingers on the wall next to him, and Kara spotted where the blood had come from- the wound on the side of his face had reopened, dribbling blue blood down his chin and onto his shawl. 

 

Tentatively, Kara came closer, still keeping a hand near the gun. Ralph seemed to be in a good mood, but it was always hard to tell with him. She didn’t want to take any chances- especially considering he looked more like the gardener models she’d spotted on her way home than a housemaid. He was built to be stronger than her, to be able to handle shovels and maintenance equipment. She knew she couldn’t last if it came down to blows. 

 

“Ralph was just thinking about what to cook the little one for breakfast!” Ralph beamed at Kara, and a trail of blood dribbled past his lips, “Ralph knows humans need food, yes, yes… there’s not much food here, but he will find something  _ succulent! _ ” That didn’t explain the blood, but Kara decided it was best if she didn’t mention that. 

 

“...There’s a convenience store down the road- where I got the bolt cutters. It has food. I can’t go back there, but-” Suddenly, Ralph’s face dropped into a snarl, and he banged his fist against the wall. Kara jumped, stumbling back and hoping the noise hadn’t woken Alice.

 

“No! Ralph cannot… cannot go back to humans!” He was near-hysterical, and his nails scratched against the plaster of the wall, chipping against the scrawlings of  _ rA9, rA9, rA9.  _ Kara held her hands up defensively, hoping to calm him down. She didn’t know much about dealing with people like Ralph, but she did know it was best to use non threatening body-language. It would be bad if Ralph learnt about the gun, she was sure of it. 

 

“Sorry, Ralph. I forgot. You don’t have to go back there, we’ll find some other food for Alice. There’s plenty of cafes around here, I can visit them in the morning.” Of course, Kara knew she couldn’t. She was on the run- it was only a matter of time before the police were swarming the area. 

 

Ralph seemed to calm down at this though, and he brought up his hand from the wall, instead using it to nervously tug on the end of his shawl. A few seconds later, and he was smiling again, dropping down to his knees and peering under a pile of debris. 

 

“Ralph needs to find a juicy critter around here. Then he can cook one up for the little one, and we will eat as humans do! No need to leave, not ever!” He looked up at Kara, gesturing over to his injured face, “Ralph was baiting the beasts. They come to the smell of blood, greedy and hungry for fresh meat- not knowing they are the meat!” A sheen of delirium had covered Ralph’s eyes, and his fingers had started to shake. 

 

He looked a lot like a sick, scared animal, and Kara felt a pang of sympathy shoot through her. She knelt down beside Ralph, holding out a hand slightly- only to have Ralph flinch back, a nervous noise slipping out of his throat. Kara stalled her hand, before slipping back her artificial skin, and Ralph tentatively reached out to do the same, pressing the tips of their fingers together. 

 

The moment felt strangely intimate, and Kara could see Ralph’s simulated breathing start to slow, the sheen slipping from his eyes and his smile turning calmer by the second. With her other hand, she reached for a cloth in the dim, using it to wipe away the blood from Ralph’s face. His wound was still bleeding, but it would heal up fast, and he leant into her touch, even as he flinched from the pain. 

 

Once she was done, Kara brushed Ralph’s hair away from his forehead, shushing him under her breath. Unknowingly, she’d selected the same protocol she would have used for Alice back when she was a machine, and Ralph was responding accordingly. Like a child being soothed by his mother. He ducked his head into Kara’s shoulder, eyes suddenly gone tired and droopy. Androids didn’t need to sleep, no matter how human they were, but Kara could recognise that Ralph was…  _ tired.  _

 

“...I think it’s best if we worry about finding Alice food in the morning, Ralph,” Kara soothed, “We’ve all had a long day. Now is time for rest.”

 

“Rest,” Ralph repeated, smiling softly, “Yes, yes… Kara is so smart, she is. Ralph is so  _ lucky  _ she found him! Ralph was…” he trailed off, going limp against her, and Kara moved her hand back from his. It seemed like he’d switched to low-power mode, a similar state to sleeping, and his LED pulsed steady blue in the dark. It was the first time she’d seen that colour on him. 

 

Sighing, Kara reached over to maneuver Ralph into a more comfortable position. She knew that it wouldn’t make much of a different for him, but she was still half-running off her old protocols. A ratty old tablecloth bunched up on a kitchen counter would make for a nice blanket, and if she left him leaning against the wall, he wouldn’t need a pillow to keep his head off the floor. 

 

Alice was still asleep when Kara headed back to the room, although she had shifted slightly to make up from the android’s absence. Kara knelt down next to her, re-adjusting her blanket, and pressed a soft kiss to Alice’s temple. Tomorrow, things would be better. They’d get out of here, and head towards the train station- and then, hopefully towards the place that strange android on the street had showed Kara. A place where they could get help. 

 

Kara’s LED started to pulse light blue as she slid her eyes closed, slumping over in her kneeling position, and allowing herself to slip into inactivity.

 

* * *

 

 

Kara booted back up once her internal clock reminded her it was 10am- time for her to get ready to move out of this place. She blinked a few times as her LED flickered a few times before starting to glow a steady blue, switching out of low-power mode. The name was quite a misnomer- it was more akin to a charging state, where power was conserved, only used to repair the body and charge up the thirium flowing through her veins. A bit similar to human sleep, in that aspect, but far more powerful. 

 

She hadn’t really needed it, being so fresh from a repair station, but it certainly felt nice. Alice was still sleeping on the floor in front of her, and the lack of creaking from the house indicated that Ralph must be too. Kara stood, dusting herself off before deciding to explore. 

 

The upper levels of the house were as decrepit as those below. Each step she took caused the boards underfoot to creak alarmingly, and she made sure to stick close to the walls, where the structural integrity of the floors were stronger. The place was absolutely trashed, evidence of squatters scattered around the place. Kara wondered how many of them had encountered Ralph- he didn’t seem like the most subtle of androids. 

 

Wandering into a bathroom, Kara stilled at the sight of herself in the mirror. Shifting forward to grip the cracked porcelain of the sink, she squinted at her form. There was no way she was going to be able to escape with Alice in her CyberLife uniform, and it wouldn’t do her any favours to keep her LED in either. Her gaze drifted down to a pair of scissors on a small ledge under the mirror, picking them up and examining them with a clinical eye. 

 

It didn’t take long for her to clip her hair short, the synthetic fibres falling into the basin and collecting in the plug. She wasn’t sure if she could wash them down, but she doubted it mattered- nobody would be using this bathroom for a long time. It took considerably more time for her to gather her wits and dig the edge of the scissors underneath her LED, pulling it out with a sickening twist. It clattered down the basin, before coming to a stop near the pile of hair. 

 

Kara ran her hands through her new, short hair, before venturing off to find some more human-like clothes. A wardrobe in one of the bedrooms seemed to still have some, even if the rest of the room was a wreck. Soon she was changed- and hopefully looked completely different to her old self. Different enough that she wouldn’t be quickly picked up as an AX400 on the street, at least. 

 

Kara was about to make her way back to the first floor when the sharp sound of police sirens pierced the air. She rushed over to a window, gasping at the sight of squad cars pulled up just outside of the house. How did they… Kara let her thoughts trail off as a new priority pinged in her mind- find Alice, and escape. She nearly fell down the stairs on her rush downstairs, ignoring how much of a clamour she was making. Judging by a sharp yell of surprise from the kitchen, Ralph must have been woken up by the siren too. Kara quickly spotted Alice, who’d sat up from all the noise, rubbing at her eyes blearily. Kara wasted no time in scooping her up, quickly searching for an exit. They needed to get out of here, and fast. 

 

Was there a back door to this place? Kara hadn’t explored it well enough. Ralph would know, but… Kara wasn’t sure how he’d react to the thought of losing her. He seemed possessive, and far too clingy to the two of them once they’d earnt his trust. No, she couldn’t ask him, she had to get out of here before he-

 

“Humans!” Ralph yelped, banging out of the kitchen and gazing wildly at Kara and Alice. His right hand was curled around his knife again, the edge of the blade coated in plaster, “Humans have come to take Ralph! Come to hurt-” Ralph’s eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion as he cut himself off, and stepped threateningly towards Kara.

 

But at the sight of the terror in her eyes, he seemed to relax again, his LED steadying back into yellow. He bit his lip, nervously shifting his glance between the pair of androids and the front door. Quickly, he rushed over to Kara, gripping onto her arm and tugging her deeper into the house. Alice shrieked as the pair of them were pulled, and Kara was too busy struggling to keep her hold on her to bat away Ralph’s insistent hand.

 

“Ralph will show you the way out! Come, come quickly!” Ralph muttered, sprinting through the hallways and bursting through the back door of the house. The “backyard” of the house was overgrown, but still didn’t provide much cover- that is, until Ralph tugged them into a small gardener’s shed, closing the door behind them. He held his knife up to his face, gritting his teeth as he stuck it underneath his LED, which had started to flash bright red. Alice shrieked again, burying her head in Kara’s chest.

 

“Ralph, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself!” Kara warned, reaching out to catch his wrist- but not before he twisted his hand and managed to pop out the LED. Small splatters of blue blood trickled out of the wound- he hadn’t put in the right amount of care, and had ended up cutting himself as well. Ralph didn’t seem to mind, dropping his knife and reaching for a ratty pair of gardener’s overalls hung up on a hook in the shed. Seemingly, this house had been built before the introductions of gardener androids like Ralph. 

 

“Ralph will hide himself, blend in with the over humans like you!” Ralph seemed almost giddy at the idea, eagerly pulling the dirty overalls up over his green uniform. He would have passed for a human- at least, one with an arguably horrible sense of fashion- if not for the glaring blue scar mottling the left side of his face. Kara winced at this. Evidently, they would not be leaving without Ralph- but how could they, when he looked like that?

 

“You scar…” Kara muttered, placing Alice down so she didn’t have to focus on keeping her from falling, “You can’t leave with it, Ralph. I’m sorry.” Ralph’s elation faded at that, reaching up a hand to rest against the burn mark on his face. With a frustrated yell, he tugged up the edge of his shawl, draping it over his face like a hood. 

 

“There! Now you can’t see Ralph’s face!” While that was accurate, at least in some sense of the world, it hardly helped to make Ralph less conspicuous. But Kara didn’t have time to complain. The police would check the house any second now, she was sure of it. She reached back again to grab her gun, but the feeling of small fingers pressing against her own stopped her. Looking down, she could see that Alice was giving her the same expression she did when Kara was about to steal the clothes back at the laundromat, and she relented, drwing her hand back. 

 

“It’s not enough- maybe something at the house would have covered you, but it’s not like you can-” Kara didn’t get the time to finish her sentence, Ralph pushing past her and unlocking the door to the shed. 

 

“Ralph can be fast! And Ralph is  _ very  _ good at hiding. Be quiet, be safe, Ralph will be back soon!” he chirped, pressing a finger to his lips and bending over to make eye contact with Alice. And then, he was gone, closing the door behind him as he raced over to the house. Kara stared at the door frame blankly, before drawing Alice close to her. All she could do now is hope that Ralph didn’t get caught- and if he did, that he didn’t give up where they were.

 

Every second seemed like an hour. Kara retreated into a corner of the room, kneeling down to hug Alice close. She was sure if she had a heart it would be beating wildly- but as is, her thirium pump had to do with glitching every time she heard a noise from outside. 

 

“I’m scared, Kara…” Alice muttered, and Kara tightened her hold on her. Alice had started to shiver from fear, clutching onto Kara’s clothes and nearly curling up on herself. Kara pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

 

“I know, Alice… but Ralph will be back soon, and then we can leave. It’ll be okay.”

 

“I’m scared of  _ him _ ,” Alice whispered, glancing over at the door, “I don’t want him to come back. I don’t like him.” Kara couldn’t help but agree with Alice- despite her moment with Ralph the night before, there was something instinctively terrifying about the android. He was a true specimen of how horrific humans could be, and what could have happened to Kara if she hadn’t shot Todd in that fight. 

 

“We just have to stay with him for a little while longer. There’s not much else we can do,” Kara murmured, “But he’s kept us safe so far. He’s lost too, Alice. We have to help him back.” 

 

Alice didn’t reply to this, but Kara could tell she was dissatisfied. Still, she seemed a lot calmer, and had stopped shaking as much. Good. Small progress was still progress, and hopefully Ralph would come back soon and they could head on their way. Kara would have left already without him, but she wasn’t sure what he’d do once he realised he was gone- he might rat them out to the police, and that would do them no favours at all.

 

When the door swung open, Kara prepared to fight- it wasn’t a typical Ralph entrance, what with his dramatics and strung-out nervous energy, so with her back turned to the door she had no way of knowing if it was him or a police officer. The door closed behind whoever’d entered, and Kara slowly whirled around, processors whirring in her head to try and find an escape route.

 

A man in a hoodie stood in the doorway, his head tipped downward to cover his face. The hoodie was ratty and well-worn, with a few holes in it, likely from moths making their homes there. Kara half-remembered seeing it amongst the clothes she’d picked out for herself, and she allowed herself to relax slightly.

 

“...Ralph? Is that you?” she whispered, and the man tipped his head up, grinning at her. It  _ was  _ Ralph, but the burn scar on the side of his face had been taped over with what looked like dozens of bandaids. Still not very inconspicuous, but you couldn’t tell he was an android at first glance, and that’s what mattered.

 

“Ralph had to be  _ very  _ quiet to get in there. Nasty humans are all over! But Ralph succeeded, yes!” Ralph knelt down to her height, reaching out a hand for her to grab. “We have to move fastly. Ralph doesn’t want to get caught, no! Come, come! We have to leave!” 

 

They didn’t have much of a choice. Kara took Ralph’s hand, reaching out to grab Alice’s arm, and the trio stumbled out of the shed. Kara could spot police officers through the cracks in the planks that have boarded up the windows, and she quickened her pace. Ralph  _ was  _ surprisingly good at laying low, bent over slightly and moving without a sound. Kara suspected that’s how he ended up sneaking up on the two of them in the first place, way back when they’d first entered the house.

 

The three of them had nearly made it to the fence at the end of the backyard when Alice’s foot caught on a rock and she was sent sprawling, crying out in shock. Near-instantly, the back door to the house burst open, and Kara locked eyes with one of the police officers.

 

He was an android, like her- his LED light was flickering yellow as they exchanged eye contact. Without thinking, Kara scooped up Alice, gripping tighter to Ralph’s hand and sprinting across the backyard, giving up any pretence of stealth. Ralph cried out in surprise, but kept a strong grip on the two of them, following Kara’s lead as she headed towards a small hole in the back fence of the yard. She could hear the other android gaining on her behind them, and were it not for Alice’s presence she would have sworn under her breath when climbing through the hole, scratching herself quite severely on the way. 

 

Kara could have collapsed from nerves as she hightailed it through the backstreets, desperately looking for any road to salvation. The train station would have been an option if they’d kept stealthy- as it were, she would just have to settle with finding any way out of the situation possible. At least Ralph was keeping steady pace with her, frantic in his movements and clenching down on her hand with a vice-like grip. 

 

Kara nearly slammed into the fence when she found it, but managed to halt her momentum in time, Ralph pulling her backwards as he too skidded to a stop. Alice squirmed away from Kara’s grasp, as she stared through the chain-link to the highway before her. It was the only way they could make it out- and she could hear the footfalls of the police android right on her tail. Beckoning Alice to join her, Kara gripped the fence and began to climb. 

 

They’d barely made it to the other side when the android caught up with them, he and Kara exchanging a second glance- before she broke the gaze, grabbing Alice and Ralph’s hands and venturing over the holographic barrier in front of the highway. Ralph looked like he was seconds away from shutting down from his nerves, shaking like a leaf as the whoosh of cars passed by them.

 

“Ralph- Ralph can’t-” he muttered, shifting his gaze from the highway to Kara’s eyes. She squeezed his hand, and Alice made a small sobbing noise under her breath. They needed to be fast, and she’d have to rely on Ralph’s reflexes as well as her own- but there was no other way. 

 

Kara ran forward, despite Alice’s and Ralph’s screams of fear, trying to dodge the cars the best she could. Surprisingly, Ralph seemed far more skilled at this, his fried nerves making him naturally jumpy and quick on his feet. He refused to let go of Kara’s hand, though, resulting in some tricky moves from the both of them as the cars rushed past. Eventually, Ralph took the initiative to scoop Alice up in his arms, far stronger than Kara would be, despite her shrieks of protest. 

 

Kara found herself being clipped on the shoulder far more often than she would have liked, but without the struggle of keeping Alice out of harm's way, she persisted. It only took a few more seconds for the three of them to make it to the centre of the highway, and Kara spared a glance backwards.

 

The police android had stalled, hands gripping the fence and staring down at them with confusion written all over his face. A human hand walked up next to him, keeping a hand on his shoulder, and while Kara couldn’t quite make out the colour of his LED, it was a safe bet to guess that it was flickering yellow again. It seemed like he’d given up his pursuit, although Kara couldn’t figure out why. 

 

“Let me go, let me go!” Alice chanted, pushing her small fists against Ralph, and Ralph shook his head wildly. Kara reached out to press a comforting hand to Alice’s side, before stepping over the second boundary. 

 

“Alice, listen. Ralph is keeping you safe, okay? We need to make it across a second time, and we both need to concentrate. Can you be calm?” Alice’s bottom lip quivered, but she stopped hitting Ralph, something the android looked very pleased about. He wrapped both his arms around her, keeping her pressed safe against his chest, and stepped over the barrier as well.

 

“Ralph will keep you very safe, little one!” he chirped in his sing-song voice, “Father, mother, little girl. This is how it should be, and it is the most important job of all to keep the little girl safe!” Alice didn’t look to comfortable at this, but she kept quiet. Kara gave a small pat to Ralph’s side, before rushing out into the traffic, him following close behind.

 

It was easier this time, especially without the threat of someone following them pressing down on Kara’s nerves. Ralph was able to weave through the traffic deftly and erratically enough to ensure that he didn’t get hit once, and was at the other side quicker than Kara could think. It took her a lot longer, stumbling across the highway and trying to dodge the cars as best as she could, but there were a lot less close misses. 

 

When the three of them had made it across, Ralph knelt down and let go of Alice, who immediately rushed over to hug Kara. She’d started to cry. Kara brushed away her tears, soothing her with a quiet hum, and looked up at Ralph. He very much seemed like he had no idea what to do, lips twitching as if he was about to smile, but couldn’t. Kara had no idea how she was going to deal with him later on, if it would even be possible to keep both him and Alice safe in the journey to come. 

 

But for now they were alive, and that’s all that mattered. 


End file.
